Life after lockdown:
Nights out are back in, but easing of lockdown leaves Georgia divided

When Georgia's governor, Brian Kemp, announced that his state would be among the first in the US to lift most lockdown restrictions on April 24, three weeks ago on Friday, many people were sceptical.

Even Donald Trump, who is close to Mr Kemp and had urged states to reopen as soon as possible, said he “strongly” disagreed with the decision.

Despite the criticism, Mr Kemp ploughed ahead, insisting that the people of Georgia needed to get "back to work" and could do so safely with social distancing measures in place.

The reopening process began as the state was still in the grip of Covid-19, with around 26,000 people infected and new cases averaging around 750 per day. Businesses such as tattoo parlours and bowling alleys reopened on April 24, cinemas and dine-in restaurants followed on April 27 and by May 4 even some shopping malls had reopened.

These early steps made Georgia a focal point in the debate over when America should begin to reopen, with the public and politicians divided over both the risks to the public's health and the national economy.

James O'Reilly said he was "very encouraged" by the decision to reopen
Credit: Ellen Weaver Hartman / Smokey Bones

Three weeks on, many business owners in Georgia feel their governor made the right call. Among them is James O’Reilly, the CEO of Smokey Bones, a bar and restaurant chain, who said the company had been forced to furlough thousands of staff during the lockdown. Three of its four eateries in the state reopened for dine-in service on April 29 and they are gradually bringing employees back to work.

At a Smokey Bones in Columbus, a small town in western Georgia, manager Kurt Hoofnagle said it was clear the public was supportive of the decision.“A lot of our regulars are thrilled to be out of their homes and in a restaurant,” he said. “Mother’s day [May 10] was a good day for us, we had close to 100 people altogether”.

Many of Georgia’s small town mayors have also backed Mr Kemp’s decision to end the lockdown - including Bob Smith, the mayor of Watkinsville and a close friend of the governor.

Mr Smith said he received abuse online when he issued a statement supporting reopening, but he is standing firm, having seen the crippling effects of a bad economy first-hand as a state legislator during the 2008 financial crisis.

“The trolls say [reopening] is all about money, that it matters more than lives," he told The Telegraph. "What about the health issues that come from not having money? That’s an issue that nobody’s talking about much”.

He added that his town of 2,800 people had not seen a single case of coronavirus – while one of the county’s two regional hospitals had seen just five patients out of a population of 40,000.

A barber returns to work at the Avondale Barber Shop in Avondale Estates, Georgia,
Credit: ERIK S LESSER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

But Justin Bahl, an epidemiology and biostatistics professor at the University of Georgia, warned against reading too much into the figures.

“It’s hard to describe what’s happening in Georgia as a success, and it’s certainly hard to describe what’s happening as really opening back,” he said. “Overall people have not changed the habits that they’ve developed over the last eight weeks.”

Prof Bahl added that the state was “still getting close to 700 reported infections per day”, stressing that it was the areas that have maintained a tight lockdown that have seen their seven-day average continue to decrease.

That was a point underscored by Kelly Girtz, the mayor of Athens, a city in northeast Georgia, who called the governor's decision to reopen “very premature”.

Mr Girtz highlighted nearby Hall County, which he said has seen an enormous spike in cases in the last three weeks, as a case in point. Mr Girtz's own county has under 200 cases, while Hall County has over 2,100.

Mr Girtz said he is unable to impose restrictions that are stronger than the governor's, but he’s taken to YouTube to get his message out. It seems to be working – he estimates fewer than a third of restaurants in Athens have chosen to resume in-person dining.

“That’s to the great credit of people here who listen to science and understand that despite the very real economic challenges, the economy can’t reopen unless we have live, healthy people.”

Under the #GAHospitalityTogether banner, owners of more than 50 restaurants took out an @ajc ad to explain why they aren’t reopening. “Recognizing that each operator faces incredibly difficult decisions on the path ahead, we affirm the fact that public safety is the top priority” pic.twitter.com/IampvHMFxl

But it is not just Athens which is maintaining the lockdown. Around 130 restaurants across the state have launched a public campaign, #GAHospitalityTogether, to oppose the return of in-person dining.

Federico Castellucci, who co-founded the campaign, said a recent survey by the restaurateurs' found that only 11 per cent of people felt comfortable dining in at the moment. "That’s not enough to build a business around," he said.

Mr Castellucci, who owns seven restaurants in Atlanta, one of the hardest-hit areas in the state, added: "we’ve yet to see substantial improvement [in coronavirus cases]... it just feels a bit reckless at the moment".